${\sqrt{144} = \text{?}}$
Answer: $\sqrt{144}$ is the number that, when multiplied by itself, equals $144$ If you can't think of that number, you can break down $144$ into its prime factorization and look for equal groups of numbers. So the prime factorization of $144$ is $2\times 2\times 2\times 2\times 3\times 3$ We're looking for $\sqrt{144}$ , so we want to split the prime factors into two identical groups. Notice that we can rearrange the factors like so: $144 = 2 \times 2 \times 2 \times 2 \times 3 \times 3 = \left(2\times 2\times 3\right) \times \left(2 \times 2 \times 3\right)$ So $\left(2\times 2\times 3\right)^2 = 12^2 = 144$ So $\sqrt{144}$ is $12$.